Thoughts On Penbbs?

[Rosendust2121]

Hey everyone, Is the PenBBS pen worth it? I was thinking of getting a pen from the 323 series.

Any help/insights are appreciated!

Edited March 19, 2019 by Rosendust2121

[Holon]

Yes, they are worth it. Good quality, well made, nice acrylics. you can even change the nibs. Only negative: the feed is a bit fragile.

 

You will find a lot of information in this forum, just search for the right name, because you misspelled it. It's called PenBBS. :-)

Edited March 19, 2019 by Holon

[Rosendust2121]

Yes, they are worth it. Good quality, well made, nice acrylics. you can even change the nibs. Only negative: the feed is a bit fragile.

 

You will find a lot of information in this forum, just search for the right name, because you misspelled it. It's called PenBBS. :-)

Thanks for the information, it's been a just a Tuesday, lol.

[sirgilbert357]

Thanks for the information, it's been a just a Tuesday, lol.

I just got a dark brown swirled 456 and I'm loving it. Well worth the 40 bucks shipped.

[senzen]

My research went as follows:

 

1. Not a bad looking pen, and apparently the materials aren't bad.

2. But apparently the converters are terrible, and in the piston model, doesn't work very well; all fixable, but still, I want reliability. People who don't seem to have problems then seek to swap nibs... So what was the point again?

3. The safe bet might be a 309, but man, it just looks like a Sailor 1911 knockoff, down to the nib design; question for self: are you looking for knock offs? Answer: hell no.

4. At $16 wouldn't be a huge risk; but the colours are either drab or awful, and there aren't many examples online under different light.

5. They keep churning out models, I salute the effort. At $40+ not such a great value proposition, with a little patience you can get tried and true vintage models.

6. Conclusion: at least one Chinese brand is stepping up and trying to produce something original; interesting but moving on.

[almoore]

Yes, they are worth it. Good quality, well made, nice acrylics. you can even change the nibs. Only negative: the feed is a bit fragile.

 

You will find a lot of information in this forum, just search for the right name, because you misspelled it. It's called PenBBS. :-)

+1

 

I have both the acrylic and the aluminium and they are great pens; my latest is the aluminium with a PenBBS Medium nib and it's a delight.

 

The main design difference I've noticed between the acrylic and the aluminium is the cap threads. On the aluminium they are at the end of the section next to the nib whereas the acrylic is at the barrel end of the section.

 

I'm hoping the next round of acrylics have the cap threads at the nib end.

 

My only advice is buy the nib size you want changing hem is difficult; I wrecked a feed doing this. I've found them to be well made and good value; if you fancy a piston filler the 309 is a great pen.

 

Al

[Mech-for-i]

My take on the matter ... Styling well its flat top, or tapered, classic style , nobody copies nobody and every body copies every body here , if we must be critical ( after all those style been well established way way way back in the early 20th century ). The feed , as mentioned is a bit fragile but then if for one who do not hack himself / herself that won't be a matter and the Mfr not tailoring to that either so this can be a plus or a minus .. Nib .. write perfectly fine for me ... but then I write multiple language and I am not into doing calligraphy too , those nibs are clearly tailored to write their native language which had a totally different need vs writing cursive Latin based language, still I have no problem writing French and English with them , they are not designed to be flexed so any try will only give you marginal at best. They have since launch also a more traditional ( western style ) fine and medium , write fine for me but I do not see it as superior over the old stock Fine. Had several 323, they work real well for eye dropper mod and work fine just it is. Its most annoying property is that it rolls ( just like any clipless pen with a round profile ), also had the 355, 456, 308, 309 ... pretty consistent writing experience across the board; I had try and hack it with other nibs but in the end I found no reason to do it unless I want a B nib on it ... the stock nib for me work fine for day to day use and just like most Chinese fountain pen stock nibs the nib do not get conditioned and run in until you give it a whole fill of writing ( or 2 sometimes ) and also like most nibs tailored to write Asian language, they can be toothy to those who are more into butter smooth gliding of a nib,no they are not that. They are likely to remain smooth but with a positive feedback which may or may not be positive to you.

 

I have no trouble with the filling so far but my habit is through and through cleaning on any new pen and if needed tune them , I figure the cleaning cure at least 90%+ of any initial mishap if any.

 

Here in and around Asia availability is good, delivery is relatively quick and the price of course is even better. if you check out some of the earlier release ( that are restocked ) or some of the solid color 323, they can be had at even better pricing and for that said model they work quite well. The aluminum version I do have but I found its anodized finish less appealing than the original acrylic but that's personal here. Overall very little difference between the metal vs the acrylic except for weight which one can feel ( though its small difference only )

Edited March 19, 2019 by Mech-for-i

[Honeybadgers]

every single model in their line is excellent.

 

Their nibs can be a little iffy, so just be prepared to buy a $15 JoWo to swap in, just in case. But the low, LOW cost of the pens themselves really makes the extra investment into a nice JoWo nib really reasonable.

 

My personal favorite model is the 456. it's a freaking excellent vacuum filler. The 355 wound up a little half baked, but still works well (the filler isn't quite as satisfying to use as it seemed, but it holds a bucketload of ink and is well made)

 

I would suggest avoiding the 309 piston filler, it's got a habit of the piston sticking and you unscrew the entire assembly when trying to depress the piston.

 

the 323 doesn't post, but has a lovely ergonomic feel

 

the 471 pocket pen is pretty good, I personally think the moonman wancai mini is better, but the vote seems to be split (all comes down to ergonomics really)

 

All of the models that aren't self-fillers make superb eyedroppers. as well as being cartridge/converters

[sansenri]

I'm looking at the 323 since a while due to its nice shape

however I am concerned by the nib being bad

my latest experience with a chinese pen, a Delike/Moonman which is made of lovely resin, but has an awful nib that I cannot manage to fix, is putting me off quite a bit,

and I am not really looking forward to buying a cheap pen for which I then have to spend more that the vaue of the pen itself to swop nib and converter...

[Honeybadgers]

The quality of everything but the nibs is easily on par with brands like edison or franklin cristoph. You may get a nib that just isn't great, but it's a standard #6 and swaps with everything. It will also take nibs from nemosine, bock, knox, etc. Every standard #6 I know of fits apart from the indian flex nibs (which don't fit the majority of pens)

 

Think of it as getting an edison or FC pen without a nib for $20. That'd be an insane deal. The converters included are good. All you may need to do is buy a $15 nib, which will slip right in and give you no problems or difficulty.

 

Don't think of the pen as cheap. If it were made here in the USA it'd be $100 or more. Spending $15 on a 323 and $15 on a nib to have the same quality as a $140 edison collier is outrageously good. There are no horror stories about the workmanship or fit and finish of any penbbs model apart from the 309's slightly prone to stickiness piston.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

I haven't had a problem with either the PenBBS 308 or the PenBBS 309 I have yet, even though I may not be as happy with their single choice of nib width as I could be if an Extra Fine was on offer.

[Holon]

I haven't had a problem with either the PenBBS 308 or the PenBBS 309 I have yet, even though I may not be as happy with their single choice of nib width as I could be if an Extra Fine was on offer.

They sold spare EF nibs last year, but they are sold out now, maybe they will come back. I have two of them and like them a lot.

 

Recently they added M and F nibs with a round point, haven't tried them so far, but I read only positive comments about the M nibs.

[Honeybadgers]

I've had two good experiences and one bad skippy M, and all five F nibs I've gotten have been skippy and hard starting and unpleasant.

 

the old M nibs were pretty reliable, sometimes they were a little dry but were easy to open up.

 

I don't want to imply that they're 100% bad, but just be forewarned that the nib is not what they're famous for, though replacing them is completely painless. my 456 with a jowo EF is awesome, as is my 380 with a custom fpnibs XXF PO.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[Ted A]

I like them a lot. I’m not quite sure I would equate them to Edison or Franklin-Christoph, but they are pretty high quality. Better than most in the same price range. A minus is that it’s much harder to swap nibs than in Edison and FC though it can be done, and has to if you prefer broader nibs.

 

I was able to fit a Fountain Pen Revolution flex nib into a 323. I bent the fins on the feed a bit but not terribly. It writes a charm

[A Smug Dill]

They sold spare EF nibs last year, but they are sold out now, maybe they will come back.

I think I saw them on AliExpress(?), but even if they were available, as a prospective customer I just don't accept having to spend the pen's asking price plus the price of the spare nib to order the pen I want from PenBBS, and throwing the originally fitted F nib either into a pile of spare parts or in the trash. Sure, it's just money, but the PenBBS pens aren't so good in my opinion that they're worth the price of a Japanese gold-nibbed Platinum PTL-5000A or a Sailor Promenade when I can trust their F nibs to be fit for my purpose, and have a choice of EF or F nib at the asking prices.

[Driften]

I have a few PenBBS pens and the 323 is a nice pen. The section is very comfortable and its a nice pen in hand.

[Mech-for-i]

The 323 easily outclass each and every of its peers in term of ergonomic; it just feel right and feel good in the hand .. I am kind of surprised with the experience regarding the nibs cause prrsonally I have no issue with the stock Fine and my take is that it come down to usage .. this nib is more of a shall I say particular eith how one writes; I would suggest going fir the M nib for most who are more traditional with writing cursive

[City74]

Nice pens for the price. I don’t like that they have very limited nib sizes but otherwise the one 1 had was a good pen overall

[Rosendust2121]

Thanks everyone! I've decided I'll possibly take a chance on that pen! (:

[penzel_washinkton]

My research went as follows:

 

1. Not a bad looking pen, and apparently the materials aren't bad.

2. But apparently the converters are terrible, and in the piston model, doesn't work very well; all fixable, but still, I want reliability. People who don't seem to have problems then seek to swap nibs... So what was the point again?

3. The safe bet might be a 309, but man, it just looks like a Sailor 1911 knockoff, down to the nib design; question for self: are you looking for knock offs? Answer: hell no.

4. At $16 wouldn't be a huge risk; but the colours are either drab or awful, and there aren't many examples online under different light.

5. They keep churning out models, I salute the effort. At $40+ not such a great value proposition, with a little patience you can get tried and true vintage models.

6. Conclusion: at least one Chinese brand is stepping up and trying to produce something original; interesting but moving on.

 

I have a feeling that you have not bought one?

 

I can vouch for the PenBBS, very nicely built pens and excellent acrylics. The F nibs might need a little work but it is rather a matter of taste.

 

Thanks everyone! I've decided I'll possibly take a chance on that pen! (:

 

Congrats, will it be the 323?

Edited March 21, 2019 by penzel_washinkton